mini book

Ever have a project which has been lurking in your house for years? A forgotten project, once started, never finished? This was one of mine.

When I spent a year in France as part of my Uni degree Craig and I wrote letters to each other every week. I kept these all in a box along with some postcards and brochures etc from Lyon. When we moved into our previous house in 2009 I decided that i was going to make a mini book to hold all these items. I was going to make a video and I designed the whole thing and pre-cut all the papers and everything. Then I hit an issue. The video i was started was rubbish- the lighting was really bad, so much that the colours were not true and that bugged me soooooo badly. We also didn’t have a proper camera mount. Because of these things my inspiration flew out the window and hit itself in the face on the way out. I packed everything away together and then it lay in hibernation.

Fast forward. Geez, has it been three years?!

Then one day for no apparent reason, I did it!
I faced the giant and decided that it was GOING to GET MADE! I didn’t want to do a video any more, that ship had sailed, but it was silly having a half finished project staring at me all this time.

And here it is. And I LOVE IT! I like the design, (i wanted a vintage, timeless yet french inspired romantic feeling), I love the textures, I love the content, i love the story behind the project getting made and i love the fact that it is finished.

My bind it all had its work cut out for it because there were so many things to go in to the book. The final thing doesn’t even close properly but i don’t care. Because its done. and its great.

Do you have any projects which are dwelling on your mind? Go get inspired and face your own giant!

Only a few more days until it’s December!! eeeeeek! I’m so excited.
I’m sure many of you are familiar with Ali Edward‘s annual Christmas feature called December Daily, where she makes a mini book which documents the last month of the year and captures memories of this magical time. Last year I decided to join in the fun, and I embarked upon the wondrous adventure of making my own December Daily album.

I have to say that it wasn’t all easy; some days it was a struggle, after all this month is usually jam packed on the calendar. But on the most part, I found that project was fantastic. I decided to make a mini book which had lots of character, so lots of my pages are different sizes, and I was so thrilled with the end result.

With being pregnant plus buying a house, packing and moving all within the next week or so, I haven’t had a chance to prepare for a December Daily album this year, but I’m thinking that I will still journal the days and maybe I’ll revisit the idea when we are in the new house.

So I thought you might like to see the finished album from last year, and if you are going to take part in this years December Daily project, maybe you will get a few ideas for your own mini book. Enjoy the video!

A few weeks ago I showed you a project that I made for Sarah: a little book that held a variety of tasty fruit tea sachets. It was lots of fun to make, and lots of you asked for a tutorial so that you could make one for yourself.

Although it works really well to hold these little sachets, you could also simply use the pockets to hold tags, photos, journaling, memorabelia and so much more, which makes this project really flexible…and i must say, it is really fun to make!

I split the tutorial into two videos to make it easier to follow and easier to download – so here they are below for your viewing pleasure!

Please feel free to share this tutorial with your friends, all I ask is that you link back to this page so they can check out my other projects too.

Don’t forget that the giveaway closes tomorrow night (Thursday 22nd Oct) and a winner will be chosen at random to win some crafty goodness. Just subscribe to our newsletter to enter! For more details, check out this post!

See larger image When Sarah had her first, my adorable little Godson Randolph, her Mum came to stay for a while. My memory of ‘Grammy’s” stay with us will always be focused on fruit teas. Being in Britain, of course cups of tea are served on a highly regular basis, but Grammy preferred a variety […]